May 17, 2018

US and UK Fintech and RegTech Leaders Featured on “CFTC Talks”

Washington, DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission provides a unique opportunity for “CFTC Talks” podcast listeners to hear about the agency’s efforts to promote innovation, as well as how the U.S. and U.K. regulators are collaborating to foster a better understanding of emerging financial technologies. Part 1 of this 2-part show is available today at LabCFTC/FCA Part 1. Today, May 17, also marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of LabCFTC.      

Andy Busch, CFTC’s Chief Market Intelligence Officer and podcast host, interviews Daniel Gorfine, CFTC’s Chief Innovation Officer and LabCFTC Director, and Nick Cook, who heads the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) RegTech work. This 2-part podcast could not come at a better time as the CFTC and FCA will meet next week in London at the Innovate Finance gathering as was agreed to under the new CFTC-FCA Cooperation Arrangement on Financial Technology Innovation announced earlier this year. 

Part 1 has Gorfine giving listeners greater detail on CFTC’s recent Request for Input on innovation competitions. LabCFTC is looking to crowdsource ideas for using the Science Prize Competition Act, which gives the agency authority to hold a competition to stimulate innovation that can benefit the CFTC, its markets, and the American public. Some suggested competition topics could include new data visualization tools, a robo-rulebook or smart notice and comments platforms. “We want the public’s creativity and input on these and other substantive ideas and process for doing a competition,” Gorfine added.

Busch, Gorfine, and Cook also talk about a range of fintech and RegTech topics, including the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Listeners will also get a preview of next week’s discussion about the CFTC-FCA cooperation arrangement.

Part 2, available on Monday (May 21), is when Cook discusses the FCA’s current RegTech work with Busch and Gorfine, including a similar past crowdsourcing effort at the FCA and the upcoming hackathon in London or “TechSprint,” which provides an opportunity to collaborate across sectors to develop RegTech solutions. Cook also discusses the work FCA is doing on machine readable rulebooks. 

“CFTC Talks” is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly podcast available on Fridays at cftc.gov or iTunes by searching for “CFTC Talks” on your podcast app.